A typical circuit board includes a section of circuit board material (e.g., fiberglass, copper, vias, etc.) and circuit board components that are mounted to the section of circuit board material. Examples of circuit board components include integrated circuits (ICs), resistors, and inductors. Typically, these circuit board components generate heat during operation. A fan assembly typically generates an air stream that passes over the components and carries the heat away. The air stream removes the heat so that the components do not operate in an unsafe temperature range, i.e., an excessively high temperature range that would cause the components to operate improperly (e.g., generate a signal incorrectly) or sustain damage (e.g., overheat, burnout, etc.).
Some ICs include heat sinks to facilitate cooling. In general, a heat sink is a flanged metallic device that contacts a package of the IC. Certain conventional heat sinks maintain thermal contact with the corresponding IC by attaching to the circuit board carrying the IC using mounting holes or through holes, defined by the circuit board, located in proximity to the IC package. As the IC generates heat, heat flows from the IC package to the heat sink, and dissipates into the surrounding air. The air stream generated by the fan assembly then carries the heat away thus cooling the IC.
As the power requirements for ICs increases, the amount of heat generated by relatively high powered ICs also increases. In turn, the relatively high powered ICs require larger heat sinks having larger surface areas for heat transfer and heat dissipation of the heat created by the ICs. Manufacturers, therefore, conventionally use relatively large heat sinks having bases that are larger than the footprint of the IC packages. Use of heat sinks having relatively large bases increases the space available for additional flanges, or fins, on the heat sink to increase the surface area of the heat sink and allow increased heat dissipation by the IC. A heat sink having a relatively large base, however, minimize the space available for placement of a similar large base heat sink on an adjacent IC. For example, the relatively large base of such a heat sink can impinge upon the relatively large base of a heat sink of an adjacent IC.
To minimize impingement of adjacent heat sinks on adjacent ICs, manufacturers conventionally utilize a ganged heat sink (e.g., several interconnected heat sinks) that span or cover several IC packages on the circuit board. The ganged heat sink provides thermal dissipation for several high powered ICs without geometric impingement caused by use of several separate large heat sinks. For example, a manufacturer places the base of the ganged heat sink in thermal contact with the packages of multiple ICs on he circuit board. The manufacturer secures the ganged heat sink to the circuit board carrying the ICs to maintain thermal contact between the ganged heat sink and the multiple ICs during operation.